Steam-powered funeral for Fred Dibnah

Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Bolton yesterday to pay their last respects to Fred Dibnah, the straight-talking Lancastrian steeplejack whose infatuation with the age of steam made him a TV star. Dibnah, 66, died 11 days ago after a three-year battle with cancer but earlier this year had travelled to Buckingham Palace by steam tractor to collect an MBE from the Queen.

Yesterday his flat cap was placed on top of a Victorian trailer before a cavalcade of steam-powered vehicles, their whistles blowing, took him on his final outing to Bolton parish church. The steeplejack's sons, Jack and Roger, each drove an engine.

David Hall, the television executive who helped to produce some of Dibnah's programmes, told the congregation: "He wasn't a posh TV presenter. He was recognised as a working man who had learned through experience."